The Villian - Compendium of the Solar Wars

This is a piece of flash fiction to go along with a series of short stories and a Novel I am writing. The setting is the 'Compendium of the Solar Wars'. This is an original setting set in the Solar System 1000 years from now. This writing speaks to one of the characters that will appear in the setting

Submitted:Apr 1, 2012
Reads: 21
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I have returned to the scene of a crime. I
stand upon the bridge of my Flagship and the crew is absolutely
silent as they look anywhere but where I am standing. I am not
known to be capricious or cruel to those beneath me, but my
'history' has shown what I will do for the Imperium and it is
best not to be noticed. Besides, my bodyguard stands
respectfully several feet behind me. They have seen her work
once. That single instance was enough to buy me all the solitude
that I require.

In front of me, the results of the moment that
made me famous and infamous lie in front of me. The shattered
remnants of Europa Station hang in space, one of the great
triumphs of the Martian Imperium of the last war and the starting
point for my current trip into the past. Luna had fallen and the
White Queen was dead. Europa Station was the last major outpost
of the Lunar Commonwealth, the flashpoint that sparked the whole
Lunar-Martian War. My Fleet had already smashed the last pitiful
remnants of organized resistance of the once proud Lunar Navy and
this proud station that had survived for two hundred years
through the Jovian Intervention and the Rim War, laid completely
at my mercy.

There were things that we were not prepared to
do to Luna and her population. We needed the Moon and her
resources, her industry and its workforce. It compelled a
certain amount of restraint against our ancestral enemies.
Europa Station required no such forbearance. There needed to be
a lesson taught to the rest of the Solar System. The Titan Code
and other artifacts of the past needed to be erased for the New
Solar Order to occur. An even harsher lesson needed to be taught
to the survivors of the Lunar Commonwealth and to their former
allies like the Ring Confederacy that was no line that we would
not cross in pursuit of our new Order.

I close my eyes and I see Europa Station
intact, its weapons silent and dozens of Lunar civilian ships
moored to her structure. I left the intercom on as the Lunar
Commander signaled her surrender and pleaded for mercy for the
tens of thousands of civilians aboard the Station. She begged
for the families and the children that had sought to escape our
advance at Europa. She offered her life in payment for the two
years that Europa Station held against us if only we would spare
the families. I respected her bravery and believed her to be
sincere. In the end, I did not hesitate one
moment.

I don't hide from what I did. I bear the
title 'The Butcher of Europa' because I killed defenseless men,
women and children twenty years ago. I have done worse since and
before this is over, I may have to do things that will make my
name the darkest of curses throughout the entire Solar
System.

I once overheard one of my men remarking that
I was utterly without a thought of remorse. Those words came
close to wounding me because they are only half true. I can do
the things that I do without remorse because I do have a
conscience. I know the secret at the heart of the centuries long
conflict between Mars and Luna. I know why the Demon AIs hate
us. I know why the Rim War started and why we cannot go beyond
the orbit of Neptune. I know how Humanity ends. I will be the
Butcher. I will do what needs to be done. My one hope, the only
thing that I have ever wanted for myself is that eventually
Humanity learns why I did those things and
understands.